Pinchot, Gifford

1865 - Gifford Pinchot born on the 11th August in Simsbury, Conneticut. The scion of an old Huguenot family of moderate wealth and high public spirit.

1886 - Served on the National Forest Commission. Two years later he became head of the Division of Forestry in the Department of Agriculture.

1889 - Graduated from Yale College, where he was a member of Skull and Bones and then studied as a postgraduate at the French National Forestry School for a year.

1896 - Grover Cleveland appointed Pinchot to the National Forest Commission and charged him with developing a plan for the nation’s Western forest reserves.

1898 - He became head of the Division of Forestry, later renamed the United States Forest Service.

1900 - With fellow Yale alumnus Henry S. Graves, Pinchot founded the Yale University School of Forestry, now the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.

1901 - 1909 - He shared responsibility with Roosevelt for the notable advances in forestry and conservation.

1905 - Gained control of the national forest reserves, thereby dramatically increasing the authority of the Forest Service.

1907 - Congress forbade the creation of more forest reserves in the Western states. Roosevelt designated 16 million acres (65,000 km²) of new National Forests just minutes before his power to do so was stripped by a congressionally mandated amendment to the Agriculture Bill. These were called the Midnight Forests.

1910 - 1925 - Founded the National Conservation Association, of which he was president.

1910 - His effectiveness in manipulating information hostile to his boss President Taft led to his firing in January. But his successes became a model for other bureaucrats in how to influence public opinion.

1914 - Ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate on the Pennsylvania Progressive party ticket.

1923 - 1927 - He later returned to the Republican party and served two terms as governor of Pennsylvania.

1946 - Died, aged 81, from leukemia on the 4th of October. He was survived by his wife, Cornelia Bryce, and his son, Gifford Bryce Pinchot II.